Powerful airstrikes rocked the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah a day after Israeli officials vowed revenge for a drone that struck Tel Aviv.
The Almasirah television channel, run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, said on Saturday evening that airstrikes had targeted the city.
Images circulating on social media, which could not be immediately verified, showed vast plumes of smoke and fire next to the port, amid reports of an attack on an oil depot and electrical installations. Almasirah said that the strikes on the oil facilities resulted in fatalities.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets struck military targets in the Hodeidah Port in Yemen“in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months”.
The Houthis vowed to “plague” Israel with further attacks in response to the strikes.
Almasirah TV initially said the strikes in Hodeidah were carried out by US and British forces but later deleted the reference, according to Reuters. British and US forces have carried out repeated strikes on Hodeidah, as recently as last month.
The Saudi Arabian outlet Al Arabiya, citing unnamed sources, said the strikes targeting a fuel depot and oil refineries at the port were carried out in a joint operation by Israel, the US and the UK. It said 12 Israeli aircraft, including F-35 model fighter jets, participated in the strikes.
The latest airstrikes in Hodeidah follow a vow by Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant to “settle the score” after a Houthi drone struck central Tel Aviv, killing one man and injuring 10 other people. The Houthis immediately took responsibility for the attack, claiming they had used a new type of drone undetectable to radar and air defence systems.
Israeli officials instead blamed “human error” and said the military was investigating what went wrong. Chief military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said the drone had been detected by air defences but an “error” meant it was not intercepted.
Local police described how the drone exploded over an apartment block, causing a blast that shook the port city, killed one and unsettled residents, disturbed by the rare attack.
Gallant pledged to strengthen Israeli air defences after the attack amid an increase in rocket attacks from Hezbollah that struck northern Israel. The IDF said a barrage of 40 rockets targeted the occupied Golan Heights and Galilee in the day after the drone attack, challenging Israeli air defences.
Yemen’s Houthis, an Iran-backed militia that control much of the country’s west including the coastline, have targeted ships in the Gulf of Aden and disrupted maritime activity in the Red Sea for months in response to Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Israel shot down a suspected Houthi drone headed for the Red Sea port of Eilat earlier this month with a fighter jet, while the group’s attacks on shipping have majorly disrupted business at the key Israeli port.
The US and UK have struck the port city of Hodeidah repeatedly in response, despite the group’s pledges to continue their attacks as long as the war in Gaza goes on.
Israeli air, naval and artillery strikes on the enclave have killed more than 38,000 people since October.
